Thursday 28 November 2013

A Titan Story - Part 4

It walks! Or at least, it stands...All the extra effort to prep and balance the legs has paid off. 
Pictured below is the second set with the waist section in place. 


 You may note the large 20mm magnet in place on the top. This was glued into place using epoxy resin after countersinking it slightly to give clearance for the other half of the equation.


The legs sit perfectly balanced even with the walking set on its toes. Spending some time at the beginning working out the pose before gluing the leg sections in a stance really paid off in the end. I could imagine all sorts of problems trying to get the feet to sit flat.


I am rather happy how the prone stance turned out. I was a little apprehensive at first as there are a lot of Warhound titans with very strange and unnatural poses on the internet. 


With the aid of the magnet, I used a metal ruler to give a large enough surface on top to use a level. I used a 3 axis level on its flat to ensure a level centre pivot for the body. I considered leaning it forward as others had done but thought this was unrealistic as far as the machine would operate. It would mean the floor in the interior would not always remain level. I would expect that the advanced gyro's keeping this up would want to remain balanced.











This is the first set, or the walking set all glued together.


You can see here the 3 axis level used to get the pivot mount perfectly level. The magnet came in real handy holding the metal ruler in place.


Next up was fitting the pistons to the feet now that the pose has been finalised.


I've read a lot of people dislike this part and find it tedious and fiddly. The hydraulics come in two parts, piston and ram, of which you will need to cut each one to suit he mount. This gives almost infinite variability in the pose. I worked out an easy approach of dry fitting all the pistons on the bottom, then, using the ram cylinder, measured the right length for each piston and cut them in place. I then remove the set and glue them together off the leg, before finally setting them in place. It worked a treat and I had no issues, fixing everything in place in about 30 minutes.


There are 5 sets around each ankle. There is an additional 3 sets to go around the ball joints on the upper legs, however I have left theses at this point to let the epoxy cure before I pin the ball joints in place.


As mentioned in an earlier post, I used 2x 3x3mm magnets in the shins of each titan leg with the aim of making the shin guards removable so I can swap between each of the two designs. Below you can see how I inserted a piece of 0.3mm sheet metal into the recess grove for the mounts. This was done because lining up the magnets on each side is painfully tedious, and the shin guards tended to wobbly a bit thanks to mismatched slots (probably from casting). Not to mention trying to get 8 shin guards with all the same spacing was going to be a nightmare!


 Here are most of them done. This way i will be able to chop and change the styles at will, along with being able to show/paint the detail that is normally hidden by them. It seamed a shame to hide it all away, as there in a lot!


The shin guards mount up as below, and snap into place nice and firmly. 


You can see how much detail is hidden on the front when fitted.


Here is the other part to the magnet equation on the waist section. You can see the 20mm magnet centred in the pivot joint on this section of the upper body.


If you look closely you will see a pinch of green stuff on the side of the engine cowling. This is where I inserted one of four pins to strengthen the assembly.


Below you can see the second rear body section with the pins being fitted.


All the pins went in at acute angles to help reinforce the assembly in every axis possibe.


The whole structure weighs in at several kilograms once finished, hence why I opted to use 2 N52 20mm magnets for the centre waist pivot. This will allow me to transport the titans far easier.


I used the front section assembly (pictures posted in Part 3) whilst dry fitting and for final assembly of the rear body section. It is very important to get everything as square as possible between the two halves, not only for strength, but for final assembly. The two body halves will remain separate at this point so I can paint the interiors. Once that is done I will glue an pin the two halves together before finishing the outside prep and paint.


We are almost there now. Next steps are to pin the leg ball joints to the waist section, fit the pistons and finish the prep before a bath and undercoat is applied. Before that happens I will need to fit the heads and weapon systems which will both be magnetized.

I also have some progress to report on the Reaver Titan, but that can wait until the next post.


Wednesday 27 November 2013

December White Dwarf - Pics inside


To a lot of peoples anguish, and my amusement there are no Tyranids to be seen! Save GW hasn't released a new army in December for as long as I can remember... it was a long shot.

So what do we get this month?



First up is Sigmars Blood, a campaign book reenacting the battles between the Empire and VC with Volkmar vs Manfred heading up each side. Price comes in cheaper than an army book @ $77 NZD


Then theres the announcement that WHFB rulebook will be available in digital format on both iPad and Android/PDF!



Next we look at 40k with the new Escalation rule book introducing Superheavies into regular games. Its priced the same as a Codex



Then we get Stronghold assault, adding all the rules for fortifications to be used

We also get the Ultimate Edition of the Space Marine Codex. 

And to finish off , we get a whole crap load of Hobbit minis... Yawn...















Pretty damn uninspiring month to be honest, unless of course if you like the Hobbit minis. No Smaug though, so complete let down!




Monday 25 November 2013

NZ Masters 2013


So if your a Kiwi and play WHFB, you would be hard pressed to have missed that the Masters are quickly approaching. With the recent public release of all the army lists, social media is awash with critics. Not one to miss the party its time the southern most WHFB player weighed in...

The full lists can be found here, but in short its a bunch of net lists and snore fest's...

So in no particular order here is the Southern Sort Out!



Rory Finnemore - Empire

Rory's bought his A game and the list to back it up. Coming off a recent event win with the same list its hard not to think he will be up there. One wonders if Rory will be able to protect his light wizard and bunker without the aid of chaff, however he is only one rolly-polly away from doing the unthinkable...

Dan Butler - WoC

Hamiltons home grown prodigy Dan brings an interesting spin from the standard "net list" for WoC. Double Helcannon and Tzeentch magic offer some synergies, however the field will be reasonably resistant to the effects. I cant help but keep thinking they take too much away from pushing it forward...

Richard Barby - CD

Richard "the cow" Barby turns up with his tried and tested CD list. Whilst some components are missing (where is the TRUCK!), he may find the metal magic he has chosen to be a liability in half his games. With some of the major contenders bringing no armour lists like DoC etc the list appears to be more made for a bigger tournament meta instead of tailored to suit the Masters contenders.

Ross Hillier-Jones - WoC

Ross, I'm confused. WTF are Warriors doing in a WoC list... In all seriousness the list looks a lot slower than WoC can achieve, which in turn I think will be the downfall of his weekend. It does a little of everything but not enough of one thing. Ross will be leaning on the Nurgle Prince crutch all weekend.

Locky Reid - Empire

3 cannons, a light council, a lot of chaff and a bunch of other toys. Locky looks to have bought a fine tuned list that can preform well. The only question remains is will he be able to use it well? I'm unaware of how much practice he has running this lot as he usually plays hoardy armies... Will be interesting to see what tactic he ends up going for? 10 from the back? 8 from the back? or 6 from the back...?

Sam Whitt - Dark Elves

The first "real" appearance of Darkies in the NZ tourney scene for the new book Sam Dubb has opted for a touch of mathammer internet filth and a touch of his old crutch. There are some lists out there that will not be looking forward to this match up and one wonders how many times Sam Dubb can 6 dice dwellers... One to watch.

Hamish Gordon - WoC

Internet Troll turned table troll. Throgg turns up with a bandwagon of stupid however someone forgot to bring some pets for chaff... This list has balls, but does the player have the nads to match? Lack of chaff may loose him some games horribly, but then again it could all go horribly wrong... for both sides...

Tom Dunn - DoC

The absent general and last years Master turns up to defend his title after stealing it from the clutches of his old man last year. Tom arrives with a similar list to what Pete has run since the new book came out, and one wonders how much influence on the list old man Dunn has had... Tom is a strong player but has not attended many tournies this year. He probably practising furiously as I type. at least there is no Tomb Kings for you to face this year Tom!

Peter Williamson - High Elves

I like it. there I've said it! Peter Dubb shows us he's not done with "qwerky" yet. But take a closer look and the list is reasonably balanced, if but a little shy on combatants. Watch out for that combined flying chariot + dragon charge, its sure to catch some people out and make a mess of things since it can "fly" overtop of units that are in the way. Its very mobile and I am sure the sisters will have a field day with all the evil in the line up, but can he get the big wins necessary to take home the trophies?

Sam Campbell - DoC

Net list. Copy and paste. Nuff said... Sam will be sure to be a hurdle in every ones progression to he podium, but with everyone surely having taken into account the DoC "netlist" there is answers in the field. Has Sam read it right and surprised everyone by not surprising everyone? One weekend will tell...

James Brown - Lizardmen

taking Saurus warriors in a Skinkman army is almost as bad as taking Warriors in Woc army, or so the interwebs will tell you. Has James found the magic touch with his lizards or will internet theory prove him wrong. He turns up with only half the normal toys but he is packing Tetto Eko! Will little Jimmy have enough magic dice to ruin someones run to the podiums? Surely Lizardmen will not be on top at the end of the weekend. James, prove me worng!

Peter Dunn - Skaven

From not going to not taking Skaven, Pete has proven his furry nature and predictably turned up with the rat pack. Its his usual strong list, and one would be foolish to count him out. I am sure he and his skaven assassins have infiltrated every contenders homes to squirrel out their master plans, but has he been looking closer to home? His progeny did wrestle it from his grasp last time around...

So my Top 5, in no particular order are;

Rory Finnemore
Dan Butler
Tom Dunn
Peter Williamson
Pete Dunn

There can be only one...



Saturday 23 November 2013

New Terrain from Forgeworld

I did not see the news flash in my inbox but Forgeworld have finally released the Castellum Stronghold previewed at Dames Day



 When the situation calls for a prolonged deployment, Space Marines can rapidly construct modular fortified structures, known as Castellum Strongholds, to use as forward operating bases on a planet’s surface.

Designed by Blake Spence, the Realm of Battle Space Marine Castellum Stronghold is a 24" x 24" (609 mm x 609 mm) tile which can fit the Citadel Realm of Battle board. The model features areas that can accommodate Tarantula Sentry turrets, and its design allows several boards to be put together, expanding the size of the base. The Castellum Stronghold will be available to pre-order now and will be despatched from Saturday 30th November.

Castellum Strongholds were used in our Isstvan V display boards at Games Day UK which you can seehere.




There are also some bundles on offer with savings of about 10-15%







Also today we see some new additions to Zone Mortalis. Looks to be some warpage in the examples...

Online exclusive deal. The Realm of Battle Zone Mortalis Set contains all four of the Zone Mortalis individual tiles, allowing for a huge range of possible corridor arrangements covering a total area of 2' x 2' (600mm x 600mm). Epsilon ComplexEta ComplexTheta Complex and Zeta Complex are each 1' x 1' (300mm x 300mm) tiles that are fully compatible and interchangeable with each other.Detailed hollow resin tiles, designed by Blake Spence. To see our video of Zone Mortalis click here.

The Zone Mortalis tiles use hollow resin, which allows us to produce highly detailed, light and very durable scenery pieces. Due to the casting process of this material, it is sometimes possible to find small air bubbles on these terrain pieces. These are easy to fill as our Working with Resin guide explains. Blast doors shown in some images available separately.  Figures shown in some images for illustration purposes only. The last image shown to illustrate how expandable the set is.

Saturday 16 November 2013

Raging Heroes Dark Elves Kickstarter confirmed

A few days ago Raging Heroes updated their "Toughest Girls of the Galaxy" Kickstarter page with a plethora of new sculpts and digital designs for the upcoming range. 

Hidden away in all the words (and there was a lot!) was this little snippets:


The Dark Elves...

We were very excited to get so much positive feedback on the Dark Elves concepts, and on the prospect of focusing our future Kickstarter on the Dark Elves and the Sisters of Eternal Mercy. To be honest, we were not quite sure that doing a DE Kickstarter was the right thing to do next, but apparently, you are telling us that we should not hesitate.
So, as previously explained, this project will include both Fantasy and SF versions of our Dark Elves and of our Sisters of Eternal Mercy. But it will have to wait a bit, because right now, we are putting all of our energy into delivering the Toughest Girls of the Galaxy.

Highly anticipated but I am still doing a happy dance! I simply can't wait for this, however the timing is very unfortunate since I want them now...

If you are not familiar with the standard and quality of their work here are some pictures from the latest wave of previews:








The rest of the images and words can be found here